15235 réponses à ce sujet

[Saint of Sinners]

No, there are none. Since you play solo, you don't get to do the Nalia quests (not that those have any difficulties either). This is perhaps the easiest stronghold to manage, as it's only every time "Gold has been placed..." appears that you need to go there. Sometimes, every two times.

And it's a really good investment in the long run because it's got the cheapest "payment" quests. As for a time limit, just be there when the runner says Lord Roenall needs to see you or when they're attacking. Both times require you to be there ASAP.

[Alesia_BH]

Alana at the De'Arnise Keep

The first wave of trolls did no damage to Alana. Hooray for slings...


The Otuygh gave Alana a rare opportunity to use the Cure Disease ability on her personal Item: Where the Hearth Is.


The Yuan-Ti mage fell to Dart of Stunning-> Melee. Embarassingly though, Alana left her bow on the first floor. That complicated finishing his compadres.


You can probably guess why this kill took place near the stairs...


Alana defeated Torgal and his buds without taking any injuries. Surprisingly, there were no Spirit Trolls. This felt vanilla and anticlimactic.



Glaicas caught a Dart of Stunning followed by a hailstorm of Sling Bullets. No injuries here either.


The most enjoyable part of the quest was the flail head heist- aided and abetted by Alana's favorite partner in crime.



Umar Hills is next.


Best,

A.


Btw. Alana reached Level 11 in The Keep.

Btw II. Thank SoS! As you've probably surmised, I'm new at this Fighter thing. I hope you and everyone else will feel free to offer tips and advice.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 11 juillet 2011 - 05:11 .

[Wierdo]

@Alesia You are doing great so far. Alana is one very brave fighter.

I confess that I really love playing thieves, and feel for you there! I feel that BG was made for thieves. I could not do a solo fighter as I love thieves too much. However, a good fighter/thief would definitely be possible!

Regarding Torgal, I think that the fight with him is adjusted for your party level/strength. So that is probably why he was unattended by spirit trolls.

[Alesia_BH]

Wierdo wrote...

@Alesia You are doing great so far. Alana is one very brave fighter.

That's kind of you to say.

I confess that I really love playing thieves, and feel for you there! I feel that BG was made for thieves. I could not do a solo fighter as I love thieves too much.

That's one of the reasons I never got around to it as well. The thought of a little Halfling running around with a Sling caught my fancy though...

I considered making Alana a Fighter/Thief. When I build characters, I typically start with a portrait and then ask "Who is she?" Alana does look like a Fighter/Thief to me. I thought making her an F/T would spoil the experience though. I wanted her to be uncomplicated: a girl with a sling and a quick blade- dreaming of home but doing her duty.

I have plenty of opportunities to do tricky thief stuff with my Bounty Hunter.

The thing that worries me about Alana is that she's going to get over-levelled after a few more quests. I'm thinking about nerfing her level progression to keep the underdog vibe going. Not sure how to implement that though.  

Regarding Torgal, I think that the fight with him is adjusted for your party level/strength. So that is probably why he was unattended by spirit trolls.

Makes sense. That occured to me as well. And I guess she might of had her hands full if she insisted on charging Torgal with her Short Sword. But given her approach, that room would have had to have been a lot more crowded to present a challenge.

Anyhoo. Thanks for your comments. And best of luck with your run. It's been a good read. :happy:


Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 11 juillet 2011 - 07:08 .

[Alesia_BH]

A Note on Alana's Defenses

When players talk about their characters, there is a tendancy to talk about damage output. I tend towards the opposite direction. I feel that if I can solve the defensive problems, I'll find away to an adequate amount of damage. It's not a better approach- just a preference.


I'm not content with Alana's defenses yet: she still needs speed and a deep Potion collection. Parts of the puzzle are fallling into place though.

Here are Alana's saves with her Ring of Air Control active.


Pretty nice for an early SoA Level 11 Fighter. And with the Shield of Harmony as well Potions to counter Malison and fill in other vulnerabilities, she is pretty safe from disablers at this point.

Here are Alana's Armor class adjustments.


As you can see, she's tough to hit with ranged weapons. And of course, whenever it is safe to unequip Harmony, she can go completely immune to ranged weapons via the Reflection Shield.

Adding it up, the key for Alana at this point is to keep her distance and manage her magic damage exposure. If she can get her Boots of Speed and consumable set together, she may be able to hang around for awhile.


Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 11 juillet 2011 - 07:31 .

[touch_of_the_void]

Alesia_BH wrote...

When players talk about their characters, there is a tendancy to talk about damage output. I tend towards the opposite direction. I feel that if I can solve the defensive problems, I'll find away to an adequate amount of damage. It's not a better approach- just a preference.

Hmm, I think for a solo fighter the defence is definitely more important.

I have not played SCSII much and not for a long time but I remember I had trouble with a solo warrior-type being killed by Maze from enemy mages. What are your plans for that (or has it never been an issue in your other games)?

[Shadow_Leech07]

touch_of_the_void wrote...


I have not played SCSII much and not for a long time but I remember I had trouble with a solo warrior-type being killed by Maze from enemy mages. What are your plans for that (or has it never been an issue in your other games)?

The only real solution that I see is either using one of the precious magic potions or hoping the mages waste the maze on summons from items. But that requires metagame knowledge of a mage's spellbook and their targeting preference.

Modifié par Shadow_Leech07, 11 juillet 2011 - 09:38 .

[Alesia_BH]

Alana v. Captain Haegan

Alana just completed the Haegan portion of the Slaver Quest. She escaped with minimal injuries (10HP total)- no Healing Potions were neccessary. I'll post on this fight in some detail just to illustrate some of the micromanagement I do with Alana. Some may find this interesting. Apologies to those who see this as excessive coverage of a trivial fight


Alana buffed with a Potion of Mind Focusing, a Potion of Regeneration, and a Potion of Stone Giant Strength. She entered the room under RoAC invisibility and then took Haste (via Arbane) and DUHM within Dart range of her first target: the Priest of Cyric. 


The Priest was targetted first since he was the only one that posed a meaningful threat. Movement could foil the melee fighters, the Reflection Shield the ranged. But Alana has no complete solution for Unholy Blight or other ranged damage spells at the moment.

Alana uses her Darts of Wounding against Priests to disrupt their spells. Her Darts of Stunning are reserved for Mages and dangerous Melee foes. She switched to her Sling as soon as the Priest was Poisoned and shutdown.



With the Priest out of the game, Alana swapped Harmony for the Reflection Shield and focused on the ranged fighters. The ranged fighters were chosen as the second targets because they could potentially do damage if the Mages arrived and forced Alana to re-equip Harmony.


When the Yuan-Ti showed up, they became Alana's next target since they had relatively quick weapons and low THACOs. They were dropped with the Sling. Alana tried to keep the slow Flail wielding Slaver Guards near her when she stopped to take a shot.


Next, the Long Sword Slaver Guards. And finally, the Flail Guards. Arbane did the trick here- Alana had a clear speed advantage.


Onto Haegan. Draw on Holy Might-> Dart of Stunning -> Sling.




Fin.


A.

[touch_of_the_void]

Shadow_Leech07 wrote...

touch_of_the_void wrote...


I have not played SCSII much and not for a long time but I remember I had trouble with a solo warrior-type being killed by Maze from enemy mages. What are your plans for that (or has it never been an issue in your other games)?

The only real solution that I see is either using one of the precious magic potions or hoping the mages waste the maze on summons from items. But that requires metagame knowledge of a mage's spellbook and their targeting preference.

I'm not sure if mages will waste Maze on summons. If they don't then short of obtaining 100% magic resistance there really are not many solutions. The only ones that come to mind are somehow staying under Improved Invisibility the whole fight, using the Ring of Spell Turning, casting Spell Turning from the Book of Many Spells (in a no-reload it is not even guaranteed you can get this spell, of course), and changing into the Slayer. And if the enemy mage is protected by Spell Turning himself then having Spell Turning on you won't stop you getting affected. And I imagine they have ample means to remove the Spell Turning anyway.

[Alesia_BH]

touch_of_the_void wrote...

I have not played SCSII much and not for a long time but I remember I had trouble with a solo warrior-type being killed by Maze from enemy mages. What are your plans for that (or has it never been an issue in your other games)?

I haven't done many SCS runs. Alesia was targetted by Maze once. She was able to foil that with a Potion of Magic Protection and Carsomyr. Of course, Alana won't have that option.

I could be mistaken, but Maze appears to be more common in vanilla. In vanilla, I made a point of keeping vulnerable characters out of touch range when facing potential Maze casters. It was often pretty obvious when they wanted to cast Maze because they'd start walking towards you. I'm not sure it will play out that way in SCS. It is a concern.

I do intend to keep Magic Resistance potions and items around in the event of a cast. It may also be possible to use a Pro Magic scroll as a counter as well. I haven't used them at all in prior games since I find them overpowered but I'm willing to do so against Maze for Alana.

Tamah's Maze scares me: it's hard to keep her off you...

I'd be happy to hear other ideas.


Best,

A.

Edit: Spell Turning goes super quick due to Meteors. Debuffers as well.

Edit2: I'm reluctant to use Slayer with Alana on role playing grounds- strategy wise as well. She needs Balthy. Does Slayer actually foil Maze anyways? I've Mazed enough Slayers to doubt it. It's not listed on XYX's immunity list. I may have to do some resource file snooping on that.

Edit3: I may have a distorted view of th Maze risk. Alastria was always protected via buffs and Alesia was usually the one doing the Mazing. She didn't get far into many spellbooks...

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 11 juillet 2011 - 10:31 .

[touch_of_the_void]

Alesia_BH wrote...

Edit: Spell Turning goes super quick due to Meteors. Debuffers as well.

Do Meteors eat into Spell Turning even when the mage rolls a miss on the attack roll?

Edit2: I'm reluctant to use Slayer with Alana on role playing grounds- strategy wise as well. She needs Balthy. Does Slayer actually foil Maze anyways? I've Mazed enough Slayers to doubt it. It's not listed on XYX's immunity list. I may have to do some resource file snooping on that.

Oh, I might have been wrong on that, maybe it's just Imprisonment and not Maze.

I forgot about the PfMagic.

Something else that occurred to me is that, if a mage does not have the ability to detect invisibility via script, turning invisible mid-casting should foil the spell. However I would imagine SCS mages do have this ability since even though they play by the rules with not targeting invisible characters with single-target spells, they probably need to be able to detect invisible creatures for AoE spell targeting.

[Alesia_BH]

touch_of_the_void wrote...

Do Meteors eat into Spell Turning even when the mage rolls a miss on the attack roll?

Not sure. But I see your point: Mages aren't going to hit Alana much. Still, she doesn't have anyway to keep Spell Turning up. I don't think that's the answer- at least not as a pre-buff.

I forgot about the PfMagic.

That may be the best bet- that and distance.

Something else that occurred to me is that, if a mage does not have the ability to detect invisibility via script, turning invisible mid-casting should foil the spell. However I would imagine SCS mages do have this ability since even though they play by the rules with not targeting invisible characters with single-target spells, they probably need to be able to detect invisible creatures for AoE spell targeting.

Yeah. And the other issue is that Maze is quick at 3. You'd also end up wasting charges on other Conjuration stuff- assuming you'd even hear an incantation on a 3. I think it would be wiser to keep the aura clear and gun for the cast-> effect window with a ProMagic Scroll

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 11 juillet 2011 - 10:43 .

[touch_of_the_void]

Alesia_BH wrote...

touch_of_the_void wrote...

Do Meteors eat into Spell Turning even when the mage rolls a miss on the attack roll?

Not sure. But I see your point: Mages aren't going to hit Alana much. Still, she doesn't have anyway to keep Spell Turning up. I don't think that's the answer- at least not as a pre-buff.

I agree, they'll almost certainly check for bounce effects.

Something else that occurred to me is that, if a mage does not have the ability to detect invisibility via script, turning invisible mid-casting should foil the spell. However I would imagine SCS mages do have this ability since even though they play by the rules with not targeting invisible characters with single-target spells, they probably need to be able to detect invisible creatures for AoE spell targeting.

Yeah. And the other issue is that Maze is quick at 3. You'd also end up wasting charges on other Conjuration stuff- assuming you'd even hear an incantation on a 3. I think it would be wiser to keep the aura clear and gun for the cast-> effect window with a ProMagic Scroll

With it being touch range I think confusion with other conj spells is not such an issue. But yes the quick casting time is problematic.

[Alesia_BH]

touch_of_the_void wrote...

With it being touch range I think confusion with other conj spells is not such an issue. But yes the quick casting time is problematic.

Makes sense.


Best,

A.

[Alesia_BH]

Quick Note on Alana's Game:

Alana is currently completing the Umar Hills Quest. She made a friend in the Temple Ruins of course.

Believe it or not, I didn't realize what a Mazzy Fentan clone Alana is up until now. Alana's pre-Tome stats are almost identical to Mazzy's across the board.

I haven't decide yet, but I'm tempted to let the two of them duo for awhile. That might be an enjoyable way to nerf Alana's level progression.

Best,

A.

[Saint of Sinners]

Quick query:

Does anyone know the weapon immunities of the Chromatic Demon? I'm about to take on WK and I've been ironing out the kinks in my equipment and strategies.

Also, Aesgareth issue: Is there anyway that I can get the Permanent Mind Shield effect and still keep the gem? In ANY way, like attacking him right after, etc?

[amanasleep]

Saint of Sinners wrote...

Quick query:

Does anyone know the weapon immunities of the Chromatic Demon? I'm about to take on WK and I've been ironing out the kinks in my equipment and strategies.

Also, Aesgareth issue: Is there anyway that I can get the Permanent Mind Shield effect and still keep the gem? In ANY way, like attacking him right after, etc?

Pretty sure it's 95% to all types.  Not sure about Aesgareth...

[Saint of Sinners]

amanasleep wrote...

Pretty sure it's 95% to all types.  Not sure about Aesgareth...

Thanks for that. I would assume he can be hit bg +3 and up? Or is it +4?

I just finished both parts of the Ritual in the first floor. I'm taking a break to compress the videos and write up their text. I got a bit stressed out by the second part. Really difficult thieves almost ended my run with a backstabs that left me at 8hp.

[Alesia_BH]

Saint of Sinners wrote...

Really difficult thieves almost ended my run with a backstabs that left me at 8hp.

I'm glad Monty made it SoS.

Thieves scare me more than anything else in SCS. I assume they aren't as frightening if you are in a party but they freak me out soloing...


Best,

A.


Btw. I can't advise at all on Watcher's Keep: it's been over 5 years since I've done it. I checked the Chromatic Demon's CRE file but I feel like I must be missing something since he seems too vulnerable. It's best if I remain silent since I can't confirm.  I'm sure someone will handle this one- surprised no one has yet actually.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 12 juillet 2011 - 03:02 .

[Alesia_BH]

Quick Note on Alana's Game:

Alana has completed the Umar Hills Quest and is now at Level 14. Her current character record and inventory appear below.




Best,

A.


Btw: Alana hasn't been to Spellhold. I just caved on the Bag of Holding. Inventory management was becoming too much of a chore.

[Saint of Sinners]

Alesia_BH wrote...

Thieves scare me more than anything else in SCS. I assume they aren't as frightening if you are in a party but they freak me out soloing...

Me too. I'm uploading the vidoes right now and, if you get to watch them, you'll still be surprised that a backstab caused "only" 42 points of damage at x6 multiplier for one of them. That's just a x2 for us at this point in the game. Seems like the greatest trait is the greatest bane.

Anyway, this newfound interest in thieves is making me itch to run an assassin. RR removed the throw capability of the traps but I think I can manage. I just have to stop doing what I'm doing with Monty (which is just basically trying to prove that a blade can manage all the major enemies in the game, heh).

Alesia_BH wrote...

Btw. I can't advise at all on Watcher's Keep: it's been over 5 years since I've done it. I checked the Chromatic Demon's CRE file but I feel like I must be missing something since he seems too vulnerable. It's best if I remain silent since I can't confirm.  I'm sure someone will handle this one- surprised no one has yet actually.

That's alright. I think there's no way a non-elemental weapon is bound to hurt him, so maybe I'll have to improvise with some weapons and spells. Meh, I think I'll just run around and try to bring him down with spells. However, aTweaks seems to have given him that "regen to full" thingy by going ethereal. This is going to be hard, but I'll manage.

As for your Bag of Holding, yes, that's the reason why I create it every time in my game. I know it's kind of gamebreaking to be able to hold a million stuff to be sold by the time I get out of Chateau Irenicus to afford some fancy equipment, but I'd rather it be that than for me to find some random encounter and duke it out for hours on end to reach the same amount. Eventually, I'll start playing "light" which means I'll take a roleplaying stance on how many items I can carry and which items I'll be using. That will most probably be a non-NR run and more of a Minimal Reload challenge (though I highly doubt it if I'd look at encounters as something I want to reload, no, not after being addicted to NR runs, haha).

[Saint of Sinners]

Monty the Blade Update:

This has been in my hard drive for quite a while now. Flu's going away quite nicely because of love of girl and game{smilie} so I decided to do a blow-by-blow account of the videos. I know pictures are nice to have so that a story can be formed but the video captures the fear of the battle. I must admit I got the idea from Alesia when she said that the pictures didn't do her bounty hunter justice in the way of how careful she must be with her actions. Ultimately, since I can record videos anyway, I just decided to do this instead so that my decisions and actions are seen in real-time. Most of the videos are compressed heavily but the quality isn't compromised at all.

Anyway, a bit of a background on this quest:

I forgot to do this in Ch. 2, which irks my perfectionist tendencies but all is well. Since I was planning on taking on and finishing WK in Ch. 3, I remembered that I was going to change Gaunlets of Ogre Strength soon enough with Gauntlets of Extraordinary Specialization since my 18 strength is going up to 19 via the Machine of Lum the Mad anyway. So I decided to just let GoOS be forged later on to Crom Faeyr, which could help me a lot with trivialities like golems and trolls later in the game.

Anyway, the Mind Flayers in my install have been heavily upgraded with new resistances and ability to see through invsibility. The reason why I had them upgraded is basically just PnP standards: they can create various levels of psionic shields (as seen in The Legends of Drizzt) and they can actually sense though so, unless you can go mind blank, they can detect your invisibility.

Of course, the Alhoon here is upgraded to a really stupendous level. He's not able to cast Time Stop and such but his Devour Brain attack hits for a massive int drain (4 int, if my count is right) and he's got Detonate and various buffs.

The strategy here is pretty simple. Buff as much as we can, and never ever leave out the Magic Shielding to save against anything thrown at us. Attacks should quickly kill them, so even though Scarlet+Belm+Imp. Haste+OS gives us 10APR, I stuck to Scarlet on off-hand (poison isn't a good thing here as they don't stop any spellcasting) and Chaos Blade on the main-hand. This is because we're going for ~6-8 dex-draining APR.

Looking back, since I was able to rest inside the place in nice intervals, I could have gone for Chaos Blade+Shield of Harmony+Whirlwind for a safer route. However, the strategy used was virtually flawless, only matted by some moments of carelessness regarding ProMW or ProME.

The link to the video and the timeline follows:

Monty vs Mind Flayers in the Sewers

0:44 - The first batch is finished. He still has to deal with a few mages inside this place so Monty refreshes the buffs he lost. He also takes out Chaos Blade and switch it with Belm, then exchanges hands with Scarlet. This will allow him to carry 8APR dexterity drain kills on Mind Flayers, which is a lot faster than damaging them.

1:18 - Monty finally enter the second area. Initial view gives him four enemies. He sees a cleric and targets him initially. A mage reveals himself shortly after.

1:42 - The cleric falls. Monty is starting to take some damage, which means ProMW is already down. He goes for a Sound Burst, which kills one of them. A Mind Flayer appears.

2:02 - Monty retreats a little and refreshes buffs. Mind Flayer dies. Spell Turning is returning the MMM back to the mage but stripping Monty. He uses Remove Magic on him but he answers with a Stoneskin Contingecy.

2:40 - Monty botches a Warding Whip so he follows up quickly with another ProMW. Mage disappears via Dimension Door. He kill the archers with an Offensive Spin, then throws a Remove Magic where he last saw the traces of magical energy. It succeeds and reveals the invisible mage.

2:58 - The mage finally falls. He closes the door to the safe zone and rests. After resting, Monty buffs up again.

4:38 - Monty finishes the buffs. He has very little time left for some of his defenses so he runs to the next area. From here onward, there are no more thralls. Only umber hulks and mind flayers (and their variations) can be found.

4:54 - A whole room of flayers and a hulk throw their initial attacks. All of them fail. Monty answers with a Sound Burst.

5:07 - Via an Offensive Spin, an Ulitharid falls. Still, carelessness on Monty's part results into his intelligence getting drained down to 9 points. He runs away.

5:27 - A mind flayer follows Monty to the tunnel and falls. The umber hulk and two more mind flayers also die soon enough.

5:50 - Monty regains most of the drained intelligence. Still, he quickens it with more Mind Focusing potions and quickly erects more buffs. He enters the final area.

6:33 - Monty saves against all of the initial attacks WITHOUT a Magic Shielding potion, which is quite careless yet again. He answers with a Sound Burst which successfully deafens some of the flayers. Monty then establishes a defensive stand at the doorway and beats down on the umber hulks.

7:01 - Monty buffs with Imp. Haste then goes for a Sound Burst. An Ulitharid is deafened. Two flayers fall immediately after, along with two more umber hulks.

7:21 - Time for a mano-a-mano with the Alhoon. He quickly drains Monty's intelligence with his devour brain attack. He's left at 8 intelligence so he runs away to estalbish ProME and drink a Mind Focusing potion.

7:50 - He goes for the Alhoon, who buffs up with ProMW, and casts a Warding Whip at him. He is stripped by the spell twice, so Monty follows up with a Remove Magic. This leaves the Alhoon totally defenseless.

8:30 - The Alhoon finally falls to an Offensive Spin.

8:50 - Monty kills a Magical Sword. A flayer was able to Dimension Door out of the place completely. Monty loots the place, rests, and attended to his new level.

That's it for that quest. Monty went soon after to WK and finished the first level. I'm taking a rest and rethinking my approach to that dungeon because of a near-ender that really stressed me out. The videos and the commentary for that one will follow in later posts.

Cheers! Good luck to everyone!

Modifié par Saint of Sinners, 12 juillet 2011 - 04:01 .

[Saint of Sinners]

I can't upload the videos from WK just yet because it's noontime here and the DSL connection is intermittent at best. I've been uploading the videos for 5 to 6 times, and they've all been interrupted by disconnection. I'll try again tonight.

Anyway, just for further information: Chromatic Demon has a lot of immunities and protections from various effects, has got a 100% resistance to weapon damage, immune to normal weapons, has a +3 weapon himself, and has 100% magic damage resistance. He is not immune, however, to dexterity drain. I think this is going to be a fairly easy battle. Wish me luck.

[Saint of Sinners]

Monty the Blade Update:

Defeated the Chromatic Demon. Never needed to rely on weapons. Still, I had the FoA +4 forged, as well as other items, basically rendering Monty a peasant at 50k+ gold.

Chromatic Demon fell to, amazingly, triggers and sequencers. All 300 hit points were mainly brought down by MAA, Flame Arrows, and Chain Lightning. A sequencer of CL finished him off. Battle lasted approx. 4 minutes. To be uploaded later tonight (my time).

Cheers and good luck to everyone else!

[touch_of_the_void]

Saint of Sinners wrote...

Anyway, just for further information: Chromatic Demon has a lot of immunities and protections from various effects, has got a 100% resistance to weapon damage, immune to normal weapons, has a +3 weapon himself, and has 100% magic damage resistance. He is not immune, however, to dexterity drain. I think this is going to be a fairly easy battle. Wish me luck.

The 100% physical resistance is from SCS, it's 95% in the unmodded game.